CAMP FOSTER, Okinawa — Even as the average price at stateside pumps for a gallon of regular gasoline dropped by almost 15 cents in the past two weeks, motorists on U.S. bases in the Pacific will be paying more to fill up their tanks this month.
Gas prices at Army and Air Force Exchange Service and Navy Exchange service stations are rising in Japan, South Korea and Guam an average 3.6 cents for the cheapest grades of gas. The new prices kick in Friday.
AAFES and NEX announced Wednesday that the price for midgrade unleaded at all Japan and Okinawa pumps will increase to $2.91 per gallon, up from $2.87 in August. Diesel prices will jump from $2.73 to $2.85 per gallon.
In South Korea, the price for unleaded will climb 4 cents to $3.06 per gallon. Premium unleaded will cost $3.27, 5 cents more, and the cost for a gallon of diesel fuel will jump 12 cents to $3.10 per gallon.
On Guam, AAFES and NEX gas prices will climb 3 cents to $3.06 for unleaded, 4 cents to $3.16 for midgrade, and a nickel for premium unleaded, to $3.27 per gallon.
“For the four weeks ending 22 August, the Department of Energy average price for all grades of fuel, including diesel, increased,” said Master Sgt. Donovan Potter, an AAFES spokesman. “According to DOE, the average price for regular unleaded fuel in the U.S. is 31.2 cents a gallon higher than it was at the same time last year.”
However, the independent Lundberg Survey reported Sunday that U.S. retail gas prices dipped by 15.4 cents a gallon in the past two weeks. The average price for self-service regular, according to the survey of 7,000 gas stations, was $2.87, down from $3.03 for the previous two weeks.
But that was still 25 cents higher than the price the Lundberg Survey found for the same period in 2005.
Potter said the AAFES prices are set according to stateside price averages from the previous four or five weeks. The drop in the last two weeks was offset by increased prices earlier in the month, he said.
“That’s where the difference is,” Potter said.
September gas prices
Japan and Okinawa
Midgrade: $2.913Diesel: $2.852South Korea
Unleaded: $3.059Premium unleaded: $3.267Diesel: $3.101Guam
